Quick Bites: FLW Walleye Tour Championship, Day 2

Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour

Lake Erie, Cleveland

Opening round, Friday

Lady’s first … For the Blains of Michigan, 2007 has marked the beginning of a new family tradition: fishing from the back of the boat in FLW Outdoors walleye tournaments. And for Sally Blain, today also marked a couple of other milestones: 1) becoming the third woman ever to make the top-10 cut at the FLW Walleye Tour Championship (in 2005 Peggy Severson of Fort Pierre, S.D., qualified on the Mississippi River at Moline, Ill., and last year Flo Swank, also of Fort Pierre, made it on her home waters) and 2) outdoing the very person who got her into tournament fishing – her husband, Bert Blain. “It’s very exciting,” Sally said of her accomplishment, “but I’m not sure he’s going to let me fish next year.” Making the story of her success even sweeter, Sally managed to qualify for the championship in her first year as a co-angler without having fished the Devils Lake qualifier. And Bert, who has fished as a co-angler since 2004, is happy for his better half and glad to have brought his family into the fold (his son Jason Blain started fishing the Walleye League this year). “Now we’ve got some grandkids coming along, so we may carry on the tradition,” he said.

Mary and Joseph … Ohio pro Joe Whitten was one of several anglers to thank his boat and motor sponsors today for providing him with equipment that could handle the massive waves the field encountered on a roiling Lake Erie. But his most heartfelt tip of the hat went to another backer. “I woke up this morning and saw the wind and the waves … I wanted to make sure I could get back to the best sponsor in the world – that’s my wife. She’s supported me for 13 years.” In addition to wife Mary, Whitten’s parents – Darlene and Ron Heringhausen – rounded out his core team of support at today’s weigh-in. “I was just so glad to hear him thank his wife,” said his mother. “Oh yeah, you raised a good son,” Mary said, adding that she doesn’t worry too much about Joe on the big water because she trusts his instincts. “This is our home water,” she said. “He knows how to drive Lake Erie. If he thought it was too dangerous … he wouldn’t go out.”

Let’s hear it for the boaters … The wind howled enough Friday to give tournament staff pause about whether to send the championship field out onto Erie, but in the end, the decision was made that the best of the best in the walleye world could handle the situation and make their own decisions about making runs. At the weigh-in, several co-anglers marveled at the skill of their boaters in handling the rough waters. “A lot of people know about a lot of the skills these pros have, but there’s one skill that’s not really talked about and that’s their boat skills,” said South Dakota co-angler Gary Sessions, who was onboard with Minnesota pro Mark Courts today. “And we co-anglers are just grateful to have such skilled and thoughtful pros like these controlling the boat on a day like this.” Minnesota co-angler Jim Fetzik heralded Wisconsin pro Bill Ortiz‘s maneuvering as well: “It was a dry run all the way out; I never got a drop of water on me on the way back. Bill is just an amazing boater.”

And how ’bout those cos? … And the always-effervescent Iowa pro Tommy Skarlis was quick to return a little love to the co-anglers. “Darrell (Martin) was a stud today, my co yesterday was a stud … so many of these co-anglers are just amazing guys.” Possibly referring to a bone-rattling howl of joy he let out onstage after weighing an amazing 27-pound, 10-ounce sack that ushered him into the finals, Skarlis added: “If some of these co-anglers can fish with a guy like me through the season and some of the other eclectic souls we have out there (on the pro side), they deserve to come back and fish with us again at these championships.”

Quick numbers

5.81: Approximate value, in dollars per ounce, of the 10-12 fish weighed in by South Dakota pro Dustin Kjelden and Minnesota co-angler Nate Brunz that earned the $1,000 Snickers Big Walleye award.

17: Number of the 53 total boats returning with zero walleyes on day two (everyone weighed at least a fish on day one).

13: Height, in feet, of some waves seen on Erie today, according to Ohio pro Jonathan Shoemaker.

Sound bites

“A little humble pie is good for a person; it keeps the fire burning.”

– Minnesota pro Chris Gilman, Walleye Tour points runner up in 2007, on zeroing on day two after sacking 16 pounds, 2 ounces yesterday.

“Honestly, my pants got a little wet today.”

– Sessions, referring to the hair-raising ride he took on Erie today, to which weighmaster Kevin Hunt replied, “I hope from the waves.”

“You got green; sick is when you chum.”

– Skarlis, on Hunt’s condition after going out on Erie with the pro earlier in the week. Hunt had said he got sick from the rough ride.

“I live on Lake Erie, and I’ve never seen waves like that.”

-Shoemaker, on braving his home lake today.